Gossip in
the Graveyard
is a two-hour interactive theatre production that highlights some of
the interesting people buried at the Brandon Municipal Cemetery.

Actors
with 7 Ages Productions, under the artistic direction of George Buri,
vividly portray people from Brandon’s past. Right at their gravesites.

Walking
throughout the grounds, you stop at about a dozen graves. You see the
people dressed as they would have been and hear them speak as they
would have spoken. (You might even hear some juicy bits of gossip.)

You
then can chat with them about their lives and deaths. People as varied
as Kaye Rowe, Eleanor Kidd, and George Tackaberry.

What
Lies Beneath is
a self-guided tour of the Brandon Municipal Cemetery. Among the graves
are those of George Brockie, Lucy Beaubier, and Flora Cowan.
Brandonites will recognize many names from city streets, businesses,
and other landmarks.

The What
Lies Beneath
tour can be taken online at the City of Brandon website.
The virtual tour has a map showing where in the Cemetery you are, a
photo of each gravesite, a picture of the individual (if available),
and a description of their life.

You can also take the tour at the Cemetery. Booklets are available at
the Cemetery office and at the Riverbank Discovery Centre.

A
suggestion to the City of Brandon: put the booklet online as well.
Then, those interested can print a copy for themselves and head off to
the Cemetery at their convenience.

Developed from their
“Digging Up History” column in the Brandon Sun Community News, the
Brawns tell the stories of dozens of fascinating Manitobans. Each story
features a photo of the person’s headstone.

Some of the people are nationally famous, like Brandon politician Sir
Clifford Sifton, or author Frederick Philip Grove.

Others
are more locally well-known, like town founders Squire Sowden of
Souris, or John Davidson of Neepawa. Davidson’s headstone, by the way,
was immortalized by Margaret Laurence as the “Stone Angel.”

Many
others, however, are now essentially forgotten. Like the two thousand
people buried at the former Brandon Mental Health Centre.

Every
Stone a Storyis a book about lives – and deaths. There is an ample amount of murder
and mayhem as the Brawns colorfully chronicle numerous crimes,
accidents, disasters, even hangings.

The
well-written stories, the details, the photos, and the footnotes make
this a superb book not only for browsing, but also as a local
reference.

Here you can read about Alexander’s threshing
crew fire in 1915, and Brandon’s snow train wreck in 1916 and Olympia
Café fire in 1953.

Then there was the death of Lloyd Shields
at an open air dance near Roseland, south-west of Brandon. He was
killed by a bomb accidentally dropped by a training aircraft during
World War II.

At the recent book launch in Brandon for Every
Stone a Story,
Dale Brawn made a thoughtful observation. He remarked that we often
avoid talking about the dead – or visiting cemeteries – because we
don’t wish to seem disrespectful.

On the contrary, he
asserted. Telling the stories of the deceased and making the cemetery a
familiar place are ways of remembering and honouring those who have
lived and died.

With these three excellent local resources,
we can get in touch with our collective history, our common humanity,
and our community graveyards.